WRC to return to Japan in 2019?
A consortium in Japan has announced its plans to bring back the World Rally Championship to the country for the first time since 2010 with initial targets as early as next year.
The WRC Japan Round Bid committee confirmed its intentions at the Tokyo Auto Salon show with its ambition to host a WRC round in 2019.
A consortium in Japan has announced its plans to bring back the World Rally Championship to the country for the first time since 2010 with initial targets as early as next year.
The WRC Japan Round Bid committee confirmed its intentions at the Tokyo Auto Salon show with its ambition to host a WRC round in 2019.
The last Japanese WRC event was hosted on the northern island of Hokkaido but the new event aims to base itself around Aichi and Gifu in the central regions of Japan. It would enable organisers to plan special stages around the mountainous areas of Mount Fuji while being well placed between Tokyo, Yokohama and Nagoya.
Rallying has received a huge boost in Japan thanks to the return of the Toyota Gazoo Racing squad in 2017 which is also supporting young homegrown talents in Hiroki Arai and Takamoto Katsuta who will contest selected rounds of the WRC2 championship this year.
Rally Japan became a permanent fixture on in the WRC between 2004 and 2010 before dropping of the race calendar. Sebastian Ogier won the last Rally Japan for Citroen.
